Girl recovering from near-fatal assault

Stabbed 27 times, Azalyea spent a week in medically-induced coma

Azalyea Duran, 8, was stabbed 27 times in a Dec. 18 attack at her home, and her mother Antonia Duran, who was stabbed 22 times, died. Azalyea was put into an induced coma and woke up on Christmas Day. She was released from the hospital in late January and was back at school three days later.
— Don Boomer

Azalyea Duran, 8, was stabbed 27 times in a Dec. 18 attack at her home, and her mother Antonia Duran, who was stabbed 22 times, died. Azalyea was put into an induced coma and woke up on Christmas Day. She was released from the hospital in late January and was back at school three days later.
— Don Boomer

SAN MARCOS  Eight-year-old Azalyea Duran is like any typical girl her age ­— teasing her cousin, giggling and eager to get outside and play. But take a closer look, and you’ll see scars on her arms, neck and chin that tell a different story.

Last December, Azalyea clung to life after being stabbed 27 times in the San Marcos apartment where she lived with her mother. Her mom, Antonia Duran, 41, was stabbed 22 times and died in the home. Their accused attacker, Daniel Hernandez, 28, was an acquaintance of Duran’s whom she had met two months earlier.

Somehow, miraculously, Azalyea is recovering. To help pay the bills, a benefit golf tournament is being held April 15 at Twin Oaks Golf Course in San Marcos.

Last week, she sat with her cousins and her aunt and guardian, Debbie Duran, in the waiting area of California Cuts, the hair salon in Vista where Debbie has worked for 18 years. Azalyea seemed like a girl who’s moving on from the tragedy with strength and resiliency.

She has been back at San Marcos Elementary School since the day after she left the hospital, Jan. 29, learning third-grade multiplication skills that she easily rattled off.

“Ten times 10 is 100, 10 times nine is 90, 10 times eight is 80,” she said in one breath.

She spoke with a subdued excitement about a recent outing to Medieval Times — where she watched knights battle as she ate chicken with her hands — and about her first trip to Disneyland.

“(It was) awesome,” she said. “I went on Splash Mountain and got wet.”

She spent the day at the park dressed up as the character from the Disney Pixar movie “Brave” and enjoyed lunch with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

“It’s amazing that she’s just running around like nothing happened,” said Ashley Judah, 27, who has worked at California Cuts for eight years and is like extended family to the Durans. “I personally don’t know how she recovered from that.”

According to law enforcement reports, about 3 a.m. Dec. 18, Hernandez left a hotel and went to Antonia Duran’s apartment on Twin Oaks Valley Road near Mission Road. He attacked Antonia while Azalyea was asleep in another room. Azalyea woke up and screamed, “Leave my mom alone!” Authorities say he then attacked her. She suffered puncture wounds to every major organ except her heart, her aunt said.

Antonia Duran’s adult son — Azalyea’s 23-year-old half-brother — arrived home a short time later and called 911. According to a prosecutor, Azalyea told deputies, “Help me. I don’t want to die.”

She was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital and placed in a medically induced coma.

“I don’t think that anyone had a lot of hope at that time,” Judah said. “The doctors were saying that it isn’t looking good.”

Azalyea remained in a coma for a week and woke up Christmas Day.

“That was my Christmas present,” said her aunt, who’s trying to get full custody of Azalyea.

Hernandez was charged with murder and premeditated attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $5 million bail.